Metz, Road Trip Break

I would. If you want to see Lorraine before heading into Alsace to reach Colmar, Metz is a good place. I like Metz and find it very interesting as well as the surrounding towns , eg, Nancy and Luneville.....all depends on your level of interest. If time isn't a pressing factor, I heartily recommend Nancy too.

Staying in Metz is much, much cheaper than the accommodations you will encounter in Strasbourg.

If you want a smaller place in Lorraine, I suggest Thionville.

I suggest Thionville

great for access to Luxembourg ... but for a road trip, the traffic on the Autoroute A31 (A3 in Luxembourg) between Metz and the A4 (from Strasbourg) up to Thionville is diabolical. I pull my hair out every time I'm on that road - and that's fairly frequently.

We enjoyed the two nights we spent in Metz last year. We walked most places. There is a free bus service around the city called the navette. It has two routes and worth riding to get the feel for where things are. We picked it up by the cathedral. The cathedral was very pretty. We stayed at Hotel de la Cathedrale directly across the street from it.

The German gate is worth visiting. A couple other sites are Basilique Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains and the Templars chapel. Both have odd hours depending on the time of year.

The historic center is in a restricted driving zone so we parked across the river at Parking Metz Théâtre-Comédie. It was a five minutes walk from the hotel and cathedral.

Since you have a car, I would not restricting yourself merely to the city of Metz itself. The centre-ville is interesting. (The statue of Napoleon's Marshal Ney is there if you want to see that.) "Les ramparts" ...very revealing since the town was fought over in 3 wars, if not more.

You can get Verdun from Metz, both towns being in Lorraine, take back roads, which is used by the bus to Verdun. You'll come across more esoteric war sites of 1914 and 1870 , plus that big war museum in Gravelotte.

Nate,
I have been to Verdun three times, my husband about 5-6 times. Each visit to this hallowed site is moving and emotional. To see how nature has covered over the dips and hillocks of the trench warfare battlefields....it is sort of like a cathedral to me. The battlefield has been left untouched out of respect for all who died there. Only Mother Nature has touched it. It is silent and lightly visited. There is a (relatively) new museum about the WWI battles of Verdun to visit, plus the Douaumont Ossuary containing the remains of 130,000 unidentified soldiers from the long battle at Verdun. There is also a large burial ground as well.

There is even a monument in the area to the messenger pigeons that were used so much for communications during the war.
I hope you get to explore the battlefield area and visit the Douaumont monument, especially. It is a unique experience. One I will never regret or forget.

I find Metz to be a beautiful city, a really good place to explore for a few hours IMO. Go for it!
Verdun is also a great suggestion. Unsure how Thionville got a mention, that is quite a depressing place on my opinion.

If you are OK with a slight detour, Luxembourg is a cute small city. Slightly longer detour still: Trier, with the best Roman ruins in that part of the world.

Metz is a good place to spend a day, especially if the weather's good. They have a really nice open market around the Cathedral Saturday mornings. The closed market is a great place to grab a flammtorte or the makings of a picnic. It's an easy walk to the river, and you can walk a large part of the 17th Century fortifications. Don't miss the Museum of La Cour d'Or if you have any interest in Roman history.

You might also consider Nancy, or detour north through the Germany wine country to Neustadt or Speyer. (If you like cars, airplanes, etc. the Technical Museum in Speyer should be on your list.)

Hi everyone.

Thank you very much for the great advice and suggestions.

Take care,

Nate